I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I wanted to share a story I stumbled upon about a fellow who rented out his entire home via Airbnb. It’s not the same situation as being a “live-in landlord.” When you rent out your entire home, you relinquish control because you’re not there to oversee what goes on.

I wanted to share this article because the victim, Troy Dayton offers some lessons learned about his renting out his home on Airbnb, which I think applies for us “live-in landlords.”

The first bit of advice Troy offers is:

You should check there ID’s and phone numbers to make sure they match. I would ask for a link to a social networking site like linkedin, FB, or couchsurfing if there are not credible testimonials on AirBnb. I would chat with them on the phone prior to agreeing to rent to them. Had I done these things, the people that ruined my house would have never made it in.

I wouldn’t go as far and checking their ID and phone number, I would however, Google their name and their e-mail and if the result of these searches show linked-in profiles or other personal profiles. It leads me to believe that:

The e-mail is from a real person. With the number of scammers out there, this is probably the most efficient way to weed out any scam e-mails. Knowing the e-mail is legitimate, this is when I hit the reply button and start conversing with the potential roommate.

More personal information is revealed. I then begin to ask them questions that I should be reflected on their linked-in or whatever personal profile. For instance, if they had a job and such and such place, I would ask them where they’ve worked and how long to determine if their response coincides with the information that’s revealed on their online presence.

If no Internet presences exists, it means either, they’re older and don’t know how to use the Internet or avoid creating any kind of social media foot print. In cases like these, I wouldn’t rapid fire any questions, but start a conversation about sports or current events to see where that leads to.

Additionally, Troy recommends trusting your gut.

“…, go with your gut. My gut said something wasn’t right about the people that rented my place, but I didn’t know how to handle that gut feeling and wasn’t sure how airbnb would have treated me or them had I told them I didn’t want them to stay even after they booked it.”

I have to agree with Troy to some degree here. Trusting your gut is invaluable. It’s hard. There’s no true method to trusting your gut. It’s as simple as if something doesn’t feel right – anything – don’t go for it.

It’s the holiday time and this time last year, my roommates and I went out and got a tree and did a little gift exchange. However, life happens and things change.

One of my roommates moved out and a new one moved in.

This new roommate isn’t around all that much, which is great for “live-in landlords” that want minimal impact to their residences. For other “live-in landlords,” these can be boring or unsociable roommates to the point that raises the question, “this is out of the ordinary.” Some of my past roommates were just like that, they just kept to themselves.